Season culminates in somber ending for Laingsburg with 40-39 loss to Flint Beecher in the Class C boys basketball final (with video)

Laingsburg senior Jake Zielinksi expresses his disappointment following a 60-59 loss to Flint Beecher in the Class C boys basketball championship at the Breslin Center on March 23, 2013. (Jared Purcell | japurcell@mlive.com)

EAST LANSING - The final shot did not fall in favor of Laingsburg during Saturday's Class C boys basketball final, but neither did the spirits of the players and the community that traveled to support the team.

Laingsburg (24-3) lost to Flint Beecher by a heartbreaking one point, 40-39, in its first Class C title game in school history, fueled by the coaching of Greg Mitchell and senior leadership of leading scorer Jake Zielinski. Zielinski finished the game with 14 points, eight rebound and three assists, but shot just 1-of-6 from beyond the 3-point arc.

Though the Wolfpack lost on the court, but the community at large won. A large portion of the crowd at the 14,797 seat Breslin Center chanted for the "red and white" immediately following the final buzzer.

"This was a team that was not expected to win our league, not expected to win our district, or our regional, or to be here," Mitchell said. "It's incredible and overwhelming. For our first time here and to be embraced beyond belief, our fans were exceptional and they certainly gave us a big boost."

Laingsburg got a chance in the final seconds with a series of shots under the basket resulting from timely offensive rebounding, but could not get one to fall.

The Wolfpack were forced to foul Beecher guard Jalen Pettes with 2.4 seconds remaining, sending him to the line for a one-and-one opportunity.

Pettes missed the front end and gave Laingsburg a chance with an outlet pass to an uncovered Zeilinski, but the desperation shot was wide and late of the buzzer.

"It has been a ride," Zeilinski said. "There's nowhere you'd rather be than here. You always want, from the start of the season, to get here, so that's great. But, finishing is what you really want.

"We were a couple shots short, and we have to live with the results."

In a close game, with Laingsburg trailing by no more than five and winning by no more than six, defense is key. The Wolfpack held a Beecher team that had averaged 73 points a game in the postseason to just 40 points.

Still, Beecher came out on top defensively in the final seconds.

Beecher's senior star and Michigan's Mr. Basketball Monte Morris, who was fighting a bad flu, scored a game-high 16 points for the Buccaneers, but was held in check for most of the game, failing to reach season averages of 21.5 points and 9.5 assists.

Beecher coach Mike Williams praised the Wolfpack and gave credit to Laingsburg for being the toughest team it had played all season.

"That was a very tough ballgame tonight, but I kind of expected it," William said. "We hadn't played a team that was going to handle the ball this well and run their offense for 20-40 seconds. These kids really know what they're doing.

"Those kids have nothing to be ashamed of. That's the best team we played all year, including (Detroit) Pershing."